(A) The owner or lessee of any passenger car, noncommercial motor vehicle, recreational vehicle, or other vehicle of a class approved by the registrar of motor vehicles may apply to the registrar for the registration of the vehicle and issuance of “Ohio zoo” license plates. The application for “Ohio zoo” license plates may be combined with a request for a special reserved license plate under section 4503.40 or 4503.42 of the Revised Code. Upon receipt of the completed application and compliance with division (B) of this section, the registrar shall issue to the applicant the appropriate vehicle registration, a set of “Ohio zoo” license plates with a validation sticker, or a validation sticker alone when required by section 4503.191 of the Revised Code.

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In addition to the letters and numbers ordinarily inscribed on the license plates, “Ohio zoo” license plates shall be inscribed with identifying words or markings selected by Ohio’s major metropolitan zoos and approved by the registrar. “Ohio zoo” license plates shall bear county identification stickers that identify the county of registration as required under section 4503.19 of the Revised Code.

(B) “Ohio zoo” license plates and a validation sticker or, when applicable, a validation sticker alone shall be issued upon submission by the applicant of an application for registration of a motor vehicle under this section and a contribution as provided in division (C) of this section, payment of the regular license tax as prescribed under section 4503.04 of the Revised Code, any applicable motor vehicle tax levied under Chapter 4504 of the Revised Code, any applicable additional fee prescribed by section 4503.40 or 4503.42 of the Revised Code, and an additional fee of ten dollars, and compliance with all other applicable laws relating to the registration of motor vehicles.

(C) For each application for registration and registration renewal that the registrar receives under this section, the registrar shall collect a contribution of fifteen dollars. The registrar shall transmit this contribution to the treasurer of state for deposit in the license plate contribution fund created in section 4501.21 of the Revised Code.

The additional fee of ten dollars described in division (B) of this section shall be for the purpose of compensating the bureau of motor vehicles for additional services required in issuing license plates under this section. The registrar shall transmit that fee to the treasurer of state for deposit into the state treasury to the credit of the public safety – highway purposes fund created by section 4501.06 of the Revised Code.

(D) As used in this section and in section 4501.21 of the Revised Code, “Ohio’s major metropolitan zoos” means the following public, nonprofit zoos and wildlife conservation facility:

(1) The Akron zoo;

(2) The Cincinnati zoo;

(3) The Cleveland metroparks zoo;

(4) The Columbus zoo;

(5) The Toledo zoo;

(6) The international center for the preservation of wild animals, inc., located in Muskingum County and also known as “the wilds.”